John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle

John Talbot, 1st Baron Lisle and 1st Viscount Lisle (1426 – 17 July 1453), English nobleman and medieval soldier, was the son of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and his second wife Margaret Beauchamp.

Titles

Talbot was already a knight when, on 26 July 1444, he was created Lord and Baron Lisle of Kingston Lisle in Berkshire by Henry VI^[1] (his mother being one of the coheirs to the previous creation of the barony), and in 1451, was made Viscount Lisle. After 1449, his mother was one of three coheirs to her father, and through her he possessed a claim on Berkeley Castle.

Aggressive acquisition

In prosecution of the claim against the Baron Berkeley, the heir-male, he stormed Berkeley Castle in 1452 and took the Baron and his sons prisoner.

Military service

In the winter of 1452, he led troops into Guyenne to reinforce his father.

Death before dishonour at Castillon

Both father and son were killed the next summer at the Battle of Castillon. Some chroniclers assert that when his wounded and unhorsed father begged him to quit the field and save himself, he refused, preferring death to dishonour; a scene memorialized by William Shakespeare in Henry VI, Part I.

Marriage and issue

He married Joan Cheddar (b. c1425), the daughter of Thomas Chedder, Esquire and the widow of Richard Stafford in 1443 and had three children:

• Elizabeth Talbot (d. 1487), married Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Lisle
• Thomas Talbot, 2nd Viscount Lisle (c 1448 - 1470)
• Margaret Talbot (d. 1475), 1st wife of Sir George Vere (d 1503)

Ancestry

Ancestors of John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle

16. Richard Talbot, 2nd Lord Talbot               8. Gilbert Talbot, 3rd Lord Talbot                       17. Elizabeth Comyn               4. Richard, 4th Baron Talbot                             18. James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormonde               9. Petronilla Butler                       19. Eleanor de Bohun               2. John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury                                   20. John Lestrange, 2nd Lord Strange               10. John Lestrange, 4th Lord Strange                       5. Ankaret Strange of Blackmere                             22. Edmund Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel               11. Mary FitzAlan                       23. Alice de Warenne               1. John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle                                         24. Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick               12. Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick                       25. Katherine Mortimer               6. Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick                             26. William Ferrers, 3rd Lord of Groby               13. Margaret Ferrers of Groby                       27. Margaret d'Ufford               3. Margaret Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury                                   28. Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley               14. Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley                       29. Elizabeth le Despenser, Baroness Berkeley               7. Elizabeth de Berkeley                             30. Warin de Lisle, 2nd Lord Lisle               15. Margaret de Lisle, Baroness Lisle                       31. Margaret Pipard

References

1. Calendar of Charter Rolls, 1427-1516, London 1927, p50.

• History of Berkeley